Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Food Standard Agency’s official control charges on the viability of small and medium-sized abattoirs.

Information on the 2025/26 charge rates for official controls, inspections, conducted in meat premises is available on the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) website, at the following link:

https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/charges-for-controls-in-meat-premises

As in previous years, the impact of the charges will be offset by a taxpayer-funded discount, which provides the greatest proportional support to smaller businesses. The impact of the discount on differently sized food businesses in England and Wales for 2025/26 is set out in the Cost Data Slides that the FSA has published.

The FSA is currently conducting an evaluation of the discount and will assess the impact of any changes it might propose in light of this evaluation. No decisions have yet been taken.